Sermon on the Ascension of the Lord

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

“I am with you, and no one can be against you,” says the Lord to everyone who believes in Him. No sorrows, no temptation, not even the most terrifying catastrophes should break the believer whose faith unites him in spirit with Christ. Here in Sretensky Monastery we have before us the relics of St. Hilarion (Troitsky); most of you here today have read in his Life how he celebrated the Paschal services in Solovki concentration camp. Bereft of basic human rights, tortured and mocked, the threat of death hanging over them at every moment, these prisoners celebrated the triumph of the power of One upon Whom they placed all their hope.

Sermon on the Sunday of the Blind Man

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

Christ is Risen!

Perhaps today’s story of the healing of the blind man is especially important for us, for our generation. When the Savior walked near the blind man—who was known throughout Jerusalem—but did not ask him anything, not even about his faith, he passed by him and healed him. The blind man became a man who sees. The Pharisees began interrogating him, asking him who worked this great good for him—something they themselves would never have been able to do.

Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

Today is a feast day for all of us paralytics. Today, brothers and sisters, we to a certain degree are meeting our name-day, our feast day. Who among us can boast that he is strong, courageous, bearing all the misfortunes of this age, fulfilling all of Christ’s commandments? Deliver us, O Lord, if such a person stands in our midst — one cannot imagine a worse righteous or strong man! The Apostle Paul says: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor 12:10). But the Apostle did not deprive himself of one thing: strong faith and undoubting hope in the Savior. “The power of God is made perfect in weakness!”

On Pascha We Receive an Invitation to Eternal Life

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

From an interview published in Trud, Pascha 2012.

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There is no death

—Father Tikhon, why is Pascha celebrated each time not as the anniversary of the Resurrection of Christ but as the Resurrection itself?

—The Apostle Paul made an astonishing revelation about two thousand years ago. He said, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Heb. 13:8).